Headlines were made on Thursday when it was revealed that the Dallas Cowboys were likely to promote offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to replace former head coach Mike McCarthy.
McCarthy amassed a record of 49-35 in his five years in Dallas. While Super Bowl glory eluded the Cowboys during McCarthy’s tenure, he did guide Dallas to three seasons of 12 wins or more and a playoff win.
However, after initial reports suggested McCarthy would be retained, Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones surprised everyone by firing his coach.
Fox Sports 1 host Colin Cowherd is not impressed with Dallas’ reported decision to hire Schottenheimer.
"We are watching the fall of a great American institution." @ColinCowherd reacts to report of Cowboys closing in on Brian Schottenheimer as head coach pic.twitter.com/QpAj7IJZuw
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 23, 2025
We are watching the fall of a great American institution. He’s not even interviewing for other jobs. Nothing against him. Nice guy. Three jobs, five seasons. Never been a head coach; never really been a top candidate for a head coach; but Jerry Jones likes him. He’s bounced around the league. Again, dad was a legend, nice guy; but 7-10 football teams don’t move off a coach and then hire the offensive coordinator who didn’t call plays. I’ve never even heard of that.
I mean, in any industry, You do not let good people leave the building, right? Like, we all know. Like, Liam Coen is this kid at Tampa. The resurrection of Baker Mayfield. He went and interviewed for the Jacksonville job. He said, “No, thank you.” He was such a good candidate, the owner of Jacksonville fired the general manager who couldn’t close the deal. He goes back to Tampa and they’re going to make him the highest paid coordinator in the league, offensively. Or Ben Johnson — who’s going to show up 25 minutes on our show — he was like the leading candidate for four jobs. Brian Schottenheimer wasn’t a candidate for any other job.
I looked at his bio this morning. It’s lateral moves [his] entire career — college, pro. What are we doing? Elite employees don’t make lateral moves — maybe at the end of their career, but not at the beginning and middle. I mean, watch Vegas react to this. So it just illustrates the directionless state of the Cowboys. Mike McCarthy a Super Bowl-winning coach, to Deion Sanders, a very promising college coach, to an offensive coordinator in the building for a 7-10 team that didn’t call plays. What are we doing?
Dallas Cowboys fans, I’m not overreacting here. You have become the Jaguars. You are lost at sea. Jaguars can’t find a coach. None of the top candidates are interested. Cowboys now handing the keys to somebody who’s not a candidate for anybody else… No, Dan Campbell wouldn’t have the power and the control of the locker room, and probably a say upstairs in personnel. I mean [Los Angeles Ram coach Sean McVay’s] got power with the Rams. [San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan] does in San Francisco. [Bill Belichick] did. Andy Reid doesn’t want it but could have it. You are watching the fall of a great American brand.
The Washington Commanders 45-31 defeat of the Detroit Lions on Saturday ended what was the NFC’s longest conference championship game drought. The Commanders, formerly known as the Redskins, last advanced to the conference championship in 1991. Washington, Dallas’ archrival, now passes the dubious torch of conference championship game absence to the Cowboys, who last won the NFC in January of 1996 when they defeated the Packers to advance to Super Bowl 30.
